my random thoughts..

How to ‘Be The Change’ sitting at Home**

Yes, you read it right and you have definitely heard it right. You can Be the change and start changing India by sitting at Home. The only prerequisite is your Will. We all agree that India is in a mess and God knows what can be next . Believe it or not, there are too many people who want to do something and have no idea of what ‘bit’ they can do for the country . . And this is just a START .

“Be the Change you wish to see in the World” – Mahatma Gandhi

Social Media Activism

Nobody denies the fact that Facebook and Twitter fueled the Egypt Tahrir Square Revolution and are now the driving tools for all the people movements happening worldwide. In India, Social Media buzz determines the hot topics that need to be taken by News Channels and in turn put pressure on Governments to act upon issues. Adarsh Housing Scam, 2G Scam are some of the successful stories of Social Media Activism in India. Anna Hazare movement was catapulted to National Level using these social media tools.

Every major political leader is using social media to be more reachable to public and to avoid confusions in their standings on various issues.This page gives the list of major Indian politicians on twitter and their influence in Social Media.Almost every political party now has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Putting right amount of pressure on these political entities online will make sure they realise that they are in public scrutiny .

And what not, in a recent study, it is believed that Social Media would decide atleast 100 MP seats in next elections.

Online Petitions

I was one of the cynic , and a bit hesitant to spend couple of minutes on signing any online petitions. Later , i came across some successful online petitions and they have really made a Change.

If you come across any online petition, just spend one min of your time and understand the summary and if you think is rightful, just login with your email id and sign it. It takes very less effort and even lesser risk on your part but gives a tremendous boost to the petitioner . Many state administrations have considered such online petitions and issues have been rectified.

Online Grievance Redressal tools

Many of not aware that online grievance system works super fast when compared to traditional public grievance systems. One occasion, i had trouble with my BSNL landline and after a month of wasting my time on recurring visits to local office, i have complained in the National Grievance redressal portal. ( http://pgportal.gov.in/ ). Next day, the divisional manager landed at my home and issue was rectified in hours. I have other successful personal encounters with Hyd Metro water works, Hyderabad Municipal Corporation ,Hyd Traffic Police.

Yes, the System Works and it just needs a little push from your side .

Atleast in Andhra Pradesh, there are online grievance portal/mechanism for all the government departments and they are bound to respond within an SLA.

And ofcourse, how can this list be without the greatest tool any Common Man has in his hand. If you see any discrepancy in any public work , just file an RTI with the required details and you may suddenly see the half dig up pipeline in your next lane being completed , roads being laid and that pothole on that mainroad is filled up. Who knows you may be unearthing the next big scam.

You can file RTI offline by sending a 10INR DD to the respective department Information Commissioner. Just google it for the respective contact and you can find it.

PRS legislative is one initiative which documents all the proceedings of Parliament and some of the State Assemblies . It also has some insights into what each new policy is about and gives notifications/alerts as per your interests.You can also Track your MP performance in Parliament.

MyNeta gives complete details of people who have contested elections in both state and central elections. See how worse and good your candidates are .

You can also be a citizen journalist and report issues to the media.CNN IBN has one of the most successful contributions from Citizen Journalists. Hop on to this website

PS- This is not a complete list and if you feel that something more can be added. Please let me know.

** – This post only informs about the options which are present for common man in shaping up the nation. If you are already in public domain and working hard towards betterment of Nation , All the best and we all are with you.